Move Along
by BlueStar29
Summary: One night while trying to deal with the terrible guilt that Toothless can't help but feel, he tracks a scent that leads to a ... New dragon! They meet and form an instant dislike for each other. Because of this, Toothless is adamant about keeping her a secret from all others, especially Hiccup. But he can't seem to fight the pull in his heart that keeps bringing him back to her.


_Hi there! Okay, so a few things:_

_1) I know I promised to have this up early last month, but last month was stressful. I had something with school called "Portfolio Day," where college recruiters from across the country come to look at our work. Had a lot to do in only a month. But I got some good reviews, so go me! I also switched jobs. I know, perfect timing, right? So last month was doubly stressful to me._

_2) You might find some things in this story that (may or may not) tie in with my other story,_ Bittersweet Reunion_. I am still debating on whether or not I want these two stories to tie together. So some ideas you might recognize, others are things I thought about after posting _Bittersweet Reunion_. Maybe you can help me come to a decision._

_3) I tried to keep the animalistic nature of the dragons, while also taking a look into their world through a … well, a human's eye. To truly keep the animalistic nature of the dragons, it took me a long time to get past the fact that I couldn't be **COMPLETELY** accurate. If I do that, than I'll have to take names out of the equation completely. Animals identify each other by scent; names are a human thing. But that's thinking about things WAY too much. I've been told that I over think things, and that I'm too literal.(Sarcastically) Forgive me for trying to make my stories feel as real as possible.__  
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_4) I know that some may not agree with some of the ideas in here, but I put up with your ideas all the time. This page is my dominion, so you can bear it the way I have with others. That being said, I know that some ideas will leave readers with questions, but if you would like to have those questions answered, you'll just have to come back for later chapters for those answers ^_^_

_So, now that all that has been said-er, written, Allow me to introduce the first chapter of _Move Along_ (could not come up with a better title … Subject to change)_

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Something New<strong>

* * *

><p>Life on the tiny island of Berk had gotten so much … busier since about a year ago. At least, this was what the resident human expert, a black dragon named Toothless, felt.<p>

Ever since the _Great Alpha Battle_, as the residents of Berk had dubbed it, the island had been more crowded with extra dragons; and now that Toothless was Alpha it was his job to make sure every dragon living on the island of Berk was safe and getting along.

The months after the _Great Alpha Battle_ were particularly stressful. Toothless' best friend, the human leader, Hiccup, had finally made things official with his long-time mate, Astrid. It took a good six years, but it finally happened (_Toothless owed Stormfly a gut-full of fish since he had lost their wager on how long it would take Hiccup to finally make a move_).

Humans had such a funny way of celebrating a mating. They insisted on holding some kind of ritual called a "wedding." It was quite complicated with its various stages. One: starting with a gift from Hiccup and his mother to Astrid's family. Two: the reciting of an oath by both parties. Then the final stage: a three-day feast (_where more oaths were recited_). The only part of this whole ritual that Toothless really understood was that Hiccup had asked him to stand by his side through the entire thing. The initial ceremony was not too bad, what with all the food. The only down side was that Toothless and Hiccup's mother, Valka had to spend the next three nights at Gobber's house.

Not even two moon cycles later Astrid announced that she was pregnant with their first offspring. Toothless was quite amazed. Because Hiccup's small and lean form had been through so much in six years—including a few accidental crashes into some unfortunate low-hanging branches—Toothless had made a wager with himself whether or not Hiccup was capable of producing offspring or not. He definitely took the news better than his rider, that was for sure. Toothless had to react quickly to catch Hiccup from hitting the hard ground when he had fallen from fainting.

Nine months later, the newlyweds were the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl that they had named, Skyla. Valka had mentioned that if Hiccup had turned out to be a girl, her late husband, Stoic the Vast, had been very fond of the name Skyla. So that was how the baby girl received her name.

Toothless took immediately to the newborn. He loved her so much! Everything about her was new and unusual to Toothless. He had never been around human babies before, at least not for very long. The noises she made and the look of wonder in her eyes drew a protective instinct out from the large, black dragon. He could not wait until she was old enough go flying.

Between the new family, the added residents and their new jobs, Hiccup and Toothless were very busy. It was hard to see each other for longer than a few minutes during the daytime. Yes, they would see each other at night for a quiet evening at home, or a last minute flight, but most of the time the two were very exhausted.

Toothless thought about just how far their lives had floated from each other. He sat on the highest cliff on the island. This spot gave him the best few; he was able to see everything from that spot. The black dragon watched as Hiccup tried to settle a dispute from the town center. Toothless let out a low, grumbling sigh. His gaze drifted to different activities in both the village and the sky. His ear twitched at the sudden sound of wings flapping and something land next to him. He immediately knew who it was.

"I have been looking all over for you, Your Grace.

Toothless growled softly. "Would you stop calling me that?! It's weird!" Toothless never could get used to fancy titles like that. Every dragon called him "Your Grace" now, even his comrades. But there were some dragons, like this giant orange quad-winged dragon for example, that called him that title just to get under his scales.

"Apologies, Your Grace." Cloudjumper replied in a mocking tone with an equally mocking bow.

Toothless rolled his eyes and flexed his wings. "What do you want?"

Cloudjumper eyed the young, black dragon. He knew that becoming Alpha was a hard adjustment from Toothless' previous playful and carefree ways. That was why the older, more mature dragon decided to help Toothless adjust to his new role as his second-in-command. "There is a fight between a few dragons that has broken out near the docks."

Toothless looked down to the docks and sure enough, there were two Monstrous Nightmares fighting over a large catch of fish. It looked fresh.

The young Alpha growled again. Could these dragons do nothing without conflict?! He spread his wings and jumped into the air, gliding towards his destination. Cloudjumper flew right behind him.

* * *

><p>Down at the docks, the two Nightmares continued to bite and roar at each other. The few humans that had tried to intervene flinched away, afraid of being burned. At this point there was really nothing they could do, anyway.<p>

Suddenly a figure jumped onto the dock and spun around in a circle, igniting a sword of flames. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, fellas!"

"Chief Hiccup!"

"Thank the Gods you're here!"

Hiccup blushed a little at his still fairly new title … and the praise. Any villager in Berk knew, that if anyone could stop a dragon fight, Hiccup could. The boy-chief continued to wave the sword in front of the two warring dragons until they seemed to calm down a bit, then he carefully put it away "Okay, what seems to be the problem, boys?" He asked confidently with his hands on his hips.

"Oh, oh! Right here, Chief!" One of the fishermen said. He pointed to a load of fish that had just been caught.

One of the Nightmares made a go for it, but the other roared loudly at it and ignited itself again. This caused the other Nightmare to ignite as well, in defense.

Hiccup help up his hands. "Whoa! Boys, settle down!" Neither dragon listened. They both circled the catch of fish, biting and roaring once again.

A high-pitched wailing was heard before a blue blast fell perfectly between the two Monstrous Nightmares.

With his large wings flared out, Toothless landed on the load of fish and roared loudly at the two dragons, who instantly put out their fires and silenced. Both Nightmares respectfully bowed their heads. The black dragon continued to roar as he walked up to Hiccup's side.

"Thanks, bud." Hiccup commented while petting his best friend on the neck. He stepped up to the two Nightmares. "Okay, now … how do we go about settling this?"

Toothless rolled his eyes and stepped up before roaring at the other two dragons. One dragon growled softly, almost whimpering, but Toothless roared over it, effectively silencing the Nightmare. After a few minutes with defeated looks, both Nightmares flew off in different directions. Proud of himself, Toothless looked at Hiccup, his body language clearly saying, "and that's how it's done."

Now it was Hiccup's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, yeah; all hail Toothless, the Almighty Alpha … Stop-er of Dragon Fights … long may he reign." He held his hands up in a mocking gesture.

Toothless knew that his friend was being sarcastic, but simply smiled his signature smile and licked him all over the face.

Caught off guard, Hiccup sputtered before finally pushing the dragon away and wiping his face. "Smooth, bud …"

* * *

><p>The rest of the day continued on as normal. Hiccup and Toothless both settled back into their roles as leaders. Their paths separated them; but later that evening they would see each other at home.<p>

Toothless had returned to the house earlier than Hiccup that evening. When the young man opened the door and entered the house, the first thing he saw was Toothless licking Skyla gently on the face, earning little baby giggles and squeals from her. Sometimes she would try and grab Toothless' tongue; he would then lick her little fingers. The baby girl giggled more.

Hiccup softly chuckled as he watched this. The black dragon had yet to acknowledge his presence. "I can't tell who's getting a bigger kick out of that, you or her."

Toothless looked up and gave Hiccup that smile again. He leaped over to the young man and used his front paws to push his rider down to the floor before licking him all over again. "Aww, T-Tooth-Toothless – stop! Sto-Stop"

The Night Fury did stop, only to roll over on top of Hiccup, making him groan loudly. "**OOWWW!** TOOTHLESS! You know, you're not exactly light!" The dragon let out a vibrating sound from his throat, the dragon equivalent to a laugh, while Hiccup struggled to get the Night Fury off of him.

Under that reptilian laugh, he could hear a feminine, human laugh. Hiccup looked up—as much as he could—to see his mother, Valka, sitting in a chair near the fire. She had a loving smile on her face that reached up to her tired eyes.

"The two of you play harder than any of the baby dragons." She continued to laugh lightly.

Hiccup smiled and, with great effort on his part, finally rolled out from under the Night Fury. "Hey, Mom." He made his way over to Valka and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "How was your day?" Hiccup asked as he pulled up a chair and settled down.

"It was fine. Had a few toughies, but nothing too difficult."

Hiccup was still new to the whole Chief thing. So in order to ease him of some of the pressure Valka took some of the jobs. Even after being absent for twenty years, she still remembered the stress that her late husband, Stoic the Vast, had to go through. After all, she had been the Chief's wife for three years before Hiccup came along. So she knew how to do some of the duties the Chief was expected to do.

"Well, that's good." Hiccup said.

Just then a small whine came from the cradle. Hiccup walked over to it and carefully picked his daughter up. "Hey there …" He kissed Skyla on her forehead and rocked her in his arms. "Where's your mother?" He asked in a gentle voice.

The baby girl just looked up at her father with big, bright, trusting teal eyes. She smiled at bit as she grabbed his finger. Hiccup kissed the tiny fist that held tightly onto him.

"Oh," Hiccup looked over at Valka as she spoke up, "she had to do some things with her mother today. She should be back soon."

Hiccup rolled his eyes as he continued to rock Skyla in his arms. "Yeah, sure …"

Astrid's mother was perhaps the only Viking on Berk that still did not appreciate Hiccup. She respected him as a Chief, but not as a son-in-law. Hiccup had no idea why this was. Astrid's father and three older brothers had no problem with Hiccup; it was like gaining another little brother to push around. According to them Astrid practically pushed her way up the social latter because she was the new Chief's wife; practically princess or queen status.

Hiccup never really felt threatened about this, though. Annoyed, yes; threatened, no. Astrid always assured him that she would never love another the way she loved him. That only made him feel half better.

Skyla's loud cry woke Hiccup from his thoughts. He repositioned her to his shoulder and shushed her, but her cries just kept getting louder.

"She's hungry," Valka explained, having to raise her voice so Hiccup could hear her.

The young Chief groaned. He was not exactly "properly equipped," as Astrid so arrogantly put it, to feed his daughter. Skyla kept crying while Hiccup continued to try and sooth her until Astrid returned, but nothing worked. He paced back and forth, shushing her and telling her it was okay, that Mommy would be back in a little while.

Toothless had had just about enough of the loud crying. It was the one downfall of Skyla. He rolled his eyes before approaching Hiccup, causing the young man to stop his pacing. "What's wrong, bud?"

The black dragon could tell that the baby's crying was beginning to get to him. Toothless took his tail-tip and waved it in front of the baby girl's face. As soon as she saw it wiggling in front of her face she stopped crying. After a second she tried reaching for it. Toothless pulled his tail-tip away a little bit to keep it out of her reach. He then lowered it to very gently to brush against her tiny nose, tickling her. The baby girl giggled and tried to grab the tail-tip again. Toothless had managed to take her mind off of her hunger for a moment.

Hiccup relaxed a bit, but was a little jealous that his dragon could make his daughter happy in an instant and he could not. Despite that, he was still grateful that Skyla had stopped crying. "Thanks, bud."

Toothless smiled and continued to play with the baby. Hiccup rolled his eyes again. "You know, I'm beginning to suspect that you love my daughter more than me." He dryly stated. Toothless looked at him with big eyes and smiled again, letting out that vibrating sound again. Hiccup's jaw practically fell open as he realized Toothless' answer. "Seriously?!"

The Night Fury just laughed again. "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to." He said, knowing full well that Hiccup could not understand him.

Valka laughed at them just as Astrid came through the door.

"Hey, Babe." Hiccup greeted. Astrid exhaled loudly. The slight twitch in her eye made Hiccup smirk. "Didn't go well?" He asked with clear smug in his voice.

"You should have heard her, "_Astrid, Bjorn's son just returned from a great Viking quest_," She mocked her mother the same way Hiccup used to mock Stoic; accent and all, "_I'm sure you'd like him_." After her rant, Astrid sat down and began to feed Skyla.

"How many times did you have to remind her that we're married?" Hiccup asked as he took a seat against Toothless' side.

"Five. Also had to remind her that she's a grandmother, but I think that all went over her head."

Hiccup and Valka laughed.

"Well, now you're home and you can relax, dear." The older woman mentioned, patting Astrid on the shoulder.

Hiccup left his spot against Toothless and crawled over to his wife, mother and daughter. He knelt right by Skyla's head and gave her a kiss right before giving Astrid one on the lips.

Toothless watched as his best friend spent time with his family. The dragon was not listening to what they said. He just noticed how … happy Hiccup was. It had been a long time since he had seen such a strong, sincere smile on his pet human's face.

He watched as Astrid handed Skyla to Valka, who rocked the baby in her arms. Hiccup reached into the cradle and brought the little stuffed dragon toy that Valka had made for him when he was a baby; he had passed it down to Skyla. He waved it in her line of sight. The happy laugh that followed caused the three adults to laugh as well. Toothless was very happy for his friend, but also a little bitter. Hiccup had taken a step forward that the Night Fury knew he never could.

Toothless had always known this would happen. He just did not think it would happen so fast. It made him contemplate how much had happened in just a little more than half a decade.

The young dragon quietly whimpered and laid his head on his forepaws. All this family business made him think about just how lonely he truly was. He had not always felt this way. Some time ago, he cherished the idea of being one-of-a-kind. Now though … now others were moving on and he could not.

The Viking humans did not know it, but he actually was not the last Night Fury. There was plenty of his kind … just not around here. The archipelago was not the Night Fury's natural habitat. No, they were native to a mountain range far, far to the east. How had Toothless arrived here? Well, that was a very long story.

Just thinking that there were others of his kind out there made the young dragon feel an urge to go back to the mountains and find one. But he could not subject Hiccup to that kind of danger, especially now that he had a noble role in the village … and a family.

Toothless' ear twitched when Hiccup spoke. "Okay, time to say 'night-night'." Hiccup brought Skyla over to Toothless, who nuzzled her softly. The baby girl was already fast asleep.

* * *

><p>After Skyla was put to bed, it was not long before Astrid fell sleep. As a new mother, it was natural for her to be overly tired—and crankier than usual, according to Hiccup. Valka had decided to go to bed as well. She slept in Stoic's old room.<p>

Hiccup stayed up a few more hours, going over a few documents. Toothless rested by his side.

Suddenly, the light of a candle flickered on in Valka's room. It caught Hiccup's attention and naturally, he had to investigate.

As Hiccup quietly made his way over to the room, he could hear little sobs and sniffles. Upon reaching the half-open door, he saw his mother sitting on the bed. She had been the one sobbing. Her back was towards the door but Hiccup could still hear it, nonetheless.

" … Mom?"

Startled, Valka quickly turned around. "Oh, Hiccup …" she wiped her eyes with her sleeves, "what are you still doing up, dear?"

Hiccup slowly entered through the doorway, never taking his eyes off of his mother. "I was going over some things."

"Oh …"

Even though she smiled a bit, Hiccup could hear the shudder in her voice. "Are you okay, Mom?"

"Oh, yes … why do you ask?"

They may not have known each other very long, but Hiccup knew that Valka did not hide her emotions very well. "Because I heard you crying."

The woman's strained smile fell from her tired face. "Oh, well, I had something in my eyes and—"

Suddenly Hiccup threw his arms around her in a strong, yet warm embrace. After a moment of surprise Valka returned the hug. A tear dropped from her eye.

Hiccup pulled away with tears in his emerald eyes. "I miss him too …" He whispered, voice cracking a bit. Mother and son then sat together on the large bed and sobbed into each other.

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><p>Neither of them knew that Toothless had silently watched the encounter from outside the doorway.. It tore him apart to see the humans that he loved crying over something that he had done. He could not stand it. It was times like this that made him want to jump off a cliff, just to rid himself of the guilt. Pain gripped his heart when he thought about the atrocious thing that he did.<p>

Toothless knew that he would not be able to look at Hiccup without feeling guilt for the rest of the night. So he decided to spend the night somewhere else, probably his cliff. He slipped through the window in Hiccup and Astrid's room, being extra careful not to wake the maiden up.

The young Alpha hated this guilty feeling. The Night Fury knew that Hiccup had forgiven him, the young Chief always assured him. But there was always that feeling that deep, deep, deep down Hiccup would never one hundred percent truly forgive him. They had not been able to look at each other the same way since Stoic's untimely death.

After walking slowly for about half an hour, Toothless finally reached his cliff. Looking down, he could see a peaceful and quiet village on one side, and a lively, yet equally peaceful forest on the other.

There were a few dragons sleeping around the town and another few dragons patrolling the skies. In the forest, a family of Nadders slept peacefully in a large tree while a mated pair of Gronkles snoozed in the cave-like opening of the roots of that same tree. He watched as a Terrible Terror glided rom one treetop to another.

Toothless lay down on the cliff and closed his eyes. He had every intention of going back to sleep when a familiar—constantly nagging—scent met his nose. He groaned and sat up.

"Do you make it a habit to follow me everywhere?!"

A figure climbed up from under the Cliffside, laughing. Cloudjumper had been hanging upside down under the aerie. "I assure you, Your Grace, that I had no idea that you would be returning this evening." The big, owl-like dragon answered with amusement.

Toothless scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Actually, Toothless could have given Cloudjumper the benefit of a doubt on this one. Since the Stormcutter was too big to be in the house, the Night Fury did not know where he resided, come nightfall.

Cloudjumper tilted his head to the side and blinked. "Something troubling you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because you are here."

"Right …"

Cloudjumper took a step closer and laid down beside the Alpha. "I can smell that you are depressed. That is not like you."

Toothless sighed. "I just wish that humans could live in the moment, like us, rather than live in the past all the time …"

The two dragons were silent for a moment. "Does this have anything to do with your human?"

Sometimes Cloudjumper really crept Toothless out by the way he could easily read the Night Fury. "Both of our humans …" The young Alpha rested his head upon his paws.

Cloudjumper sighed, finally understanding. "What happened to Valka's mate was not your fault." The dragon's tone was wise and patient.

"I know … but the truth of the matter is ... that the finishing blow came … from me …" Toothless' guilt had never been more pronounced in his voice. He lowered his head and clenched his eyes shut, mentally beating himself up over the deed.

"Do not fly down that path, Your Grace …"

Toothless lifted his head and looked at his second-in-command with a raised brow. Normally he had little trouble deciphering the Stormcutter's words of wisdom, but this one could use more detail.

"Once you surrender yourself to inner darkness it is practically impossible to rise from the inevitable oblivion."

The two dragons stared at each other, one with knowledgeable satisfaction and the other with absolute confusion.

"That … totally went over my head." Toothless finally replied, shaking his head in confusion.

Cloudjumper sighed. "If you let yourself wallow in such sorrow than it may lead you to your own demise."

"Oh." Toothless contemplated the words for a second before he forcefully shook off the though and stood up. "Leave me alone, Cloudjumper …" He said, walking off.

"As you wish, Your Grace." The Stormcutter replied, trying to life the Alpha's spirits.

Before he left Cloudjumper's sight, Toothless was able to reply, "And don't call me that!" over his shoulder.

* * *

><p>The young Alpha grumbled to himself as he made his way through the forest. "Who does that old bag of scales think he is? It's not like he was there …" As he walked, Terrible Terrors and other small animals scattered. They knew that the Alpha dragon was not one to be messed around with when irritated.<p>

Toothless knew that he was being difficult at the moment … but he did not care, considering the situation. He desperately tried to get the haunting image of Stoic lying motionless under chunks of ice out of his mind's eye. The black dragon stopped mid-step. Cloudjumper's words were too little too late. He closed his eyes and hung his head in shame and sadness. If he had been a stronger dragon, none of this would have happened. Hiccup would not have been forced to take so many duties he was not comfortable with and they would all be one big happy family. "It _is_ my fault …" Toothless could not help but look toward the giant statue of the late Chief that stood in the middle of Berk. It was so large, that even so deep in the forest it was visible. " … I'm so sorry …" Unable to look at the statue any longer, Toothless hung his head once more, unable to prevent himself from wallowing in the overwhelming feeling.

Then all of a sudden, something reached his nose, breaking Toothless' pity party with himself. The Night Fury's pupils contracted as he tried to identify the new scent. "That's odd, …" he said to himself before sniffing the air once more, "I know the scent of everything on this island …" And he did; Toothless had a wonderfully enhanced memory. He remembered everything he ever came across. Once seen, he could easily recall anything, if need be. So the fact that this scent was new to him indicated that something new was on his island. The dragon sniffed the ground like a bloodhound, trying to locate the source of this particular scent. He decided to let his nose guide him through this mystery.

The Night Fury tracked the scent through the forest, eventually leading to the treetops. For a second he had lost it before jumping down to the ground. That was when he picked it up again. So he continued to follow it. His natural curiosity had taken ahold of him once again.

The next place he ended up was along the route that he and Hiccup always took to get to the cove. Toothless' first reflex was to go ahead and dive into the large, green valley, as he normally would have, but suddenly the scent took a sharp right, moving away from the cove. Along this time, he began to pick up a slight tang in the scent that had not been previously present. This added scent, he knew quite well. "Blood…"

For the next hour or so he continued to track the source. The Night Fury noticed that the further he went the more the scent was becoming … familiar. It took him aback for a second. He was developing a theory in his head as to what the source might be. But it was impossible … the only way to find out was to track the scent and find out.

Twenty minutes later he was positive; the scent was _definitely_ familiar. As a matter of fact, it almost smelled like … … like … … "ME!" His theory had been proven fact. Now he _really_ had to find the source. The scent smelled almost like him; like air that was heavy with moisture mixed with mud. But this one was a tad different. Under the blood it smelled like heavy air moisture mixed with flowers. Now the dragon was adamant about finding the source. He did not care if it took him most of the night and into the next day to find it.

The trail took him down the side of a cliff, to a beach that was almost completely hidden from the rest of the island. He had never known that this tiny beach had been on this—fairly reclusive—part of Berk. None of the villagers or dragons came here. For a second Toothless thought that he had been tracking some kind of threat that had used this hidden piece of the island to their advantage.

As he made his way down the side of the cliff, Toothless suddenly stopped mid-step. Lying on the beach was a large, jet black mass. The waves of the ocean pushed it further onto shore. The young black dragon blinked his eyes a few times to make sure he was not seeing things. He sniffed the air. The scent was strongest here. Toothless cautiously approached while sniffing around it. Yes, this was definitely the source of the scent. For further proof, blood ran down its side. Very carefully, Toothless nudged its wing and tail. Yes, definitely a dragon. Finally he made his way over to the foreign dragon's face. While he tried to brace himself, Toothless could not stop the overwhelming shock, pupils narrowed to slits. This dragon looked exactly like him! The Night Fury had to blink and shook his head again. He also clawed himself a bit, still not truly believing what his eyes were seeing. That hurt.

"Okay, I'm awake."

Satisfied that he was not hallucinating, he carefully stepped up to the unconscious and bleeding dragon. Toothless noticed that the dragon was smaller than him. Its wings were shorter, as was its tail and the spines were smaller. Upon further inspection—as much as his nose alone would let him—he could see, more specifically smell, that the dragon was a female! Something he never thought he would have the chance to encounter ever again. Toothless had to take a moment to calm himself down. This was a lot to take in. He did not want to get his hopes up too high now, just to have them come crashing down later

A sudden movement caught his attention. The female dragon stirred. She was waking up. The poor thing whimpered in pain before fully opening her eyes. Toothless tried to stay perfectly still … but those beautiful aquamarine eyes beckoned him forward. She was beautiful; and her scent overwhelmed him.

Before the young Alpha could say anything, the female dragon sprang to her feet with speed that rivaled his own, and snarled at him. The wound on her side made her falter just a bit. "Who are you?!" She asked aggressively.

Toothless was not used to being spoken to in such a manner. He had to remind himself that she was injured and forced himself to swallow his pride—which was quite an achievement for him. "Relax, I'm not going to—"

A large blast of purple-bluish hued plasma exploded in front of him. Toothless was so shocked that he stumbled on his feet. He looked to the female Night Fury. She was still snarling at him. "Stay away from me …" She warned.

Okay, now Toothless was getting pissed. His famous short fuse was just about out. "Hey, you came to my island! You don't have the right to be hostile towards me! I'm the one that should be on the defense!"

The female raised a questioning brow. "Your island?"

"That's right! I'm the Alpha around here!"

The female's eyes narrowed in surprise. To prove his status, Toothless' spines began to glow blue along his back. The female lowered her gaze, but still growled softly. " …Well, it's not as if you own the island …"

Now it was Toothless' turn to growl. He jumped to the side and shot a plasma blast at her. The intent was not to hurt her, but as a warning. The female rolled to dodge the attack. She yelped in pain when she landed on her left side. Suddenly, Toothless' irritation vanished. His pupils expanded and the blue glow faded from his spines. On instinct, he went over to see if she was all right. But before he could see her condition she turned over and growled. Toothless asserted his dominance, as was his nature as a male dragon faced with a female, and stood over her. He snarled loudly and expanded his wings outward. "I was just trying to see how badly you're hurt!"

"It's not all that bad …" There was a slight strain in her voice.

"I smelled your blood across the forest."

"It's nothing I can't handle!"

Toothless forcefully shook his head and snorted loudly. He looked away, briefly. "I know that you're injured. If you don't want my help, that's fine! As Alpha, it's my job to make sure that every dragon that resides on this island is safe." When his gaze returned to her, his pupils were thin slits. "However you don't reside here, so that rule doesn't apply to you!" He said this while hovering threateningly over her. The female reluctantly flinched and raised a paw in her submissive pose.

Toothless retracted his teeth and his pupils expanded. "But as a fellow Nigh—I mean Dark, I know how easily we succumb to infection." The female opened one eye when Toothless backed down. She watched as he turned his back to her. "But don't think I'm ignorant to rapidly we heal," He turned to face her with a look of pure anger. His eyes clearly saying that she was not welcome any more than need be, "so get yourself healed and get the Hel off my island!" That tone signaled the end of the conversation. As thrilled as Toothless was to see another Dark (_had not referred to himself as that in a while_), he did not want to associate himself with such rudeness.

Toothless did not take the time to listen to anything she would have said. He leaped onto the high cliff walls and out of sight. He did not see the female scoff at him after he left.

* * *

><p>Toothless growled to himself as he rounded the corner. "I forgot how ignorant they could be!" He mumbled, referring to the female.<p>

He suddenly stopped to a halt when he spotted something with large, glowing yellow eyes. The black dragon's heart stopped. He did not want anyone, dragon or human, to know of the female Night Fury on that beach. He looked over his shoulder to where he just came from, and then back to Cloudjumper, whose glowing gaze did not falter.

Toothless scoffed. Even though he was Alpha, that was a rank not normally enforced with Cloudjumper. True to his word, the quad-winged dragon was always loyal. But this was a hard situation. Toothless casually walked past him, the Stormcutter's gaze following him with every step. "You saw nothing." He stated firmly, starting his way back to the village.

Cloudjumper said nothing.


End file.
